Does anybody have videos from both the Band Review and Field Show they have downloaded? Since I moved form Cali I am unable to attend this annual event, but love to see each bands performance. Thank You, in advance.

Ok, a few days have gone by and I'm ready to respond. First of all, thank you to the Loara Invitational Committee for inviting the Golden Valley Cardinal Regime. And thank you to Golden Valley's director, Mr. C, for accepting the invitation. I also want to complement Mr. C for having the Cardinal Regime stand and watch and applaud those bands that competed after GV went through the competition area. I thought that that was a classy move.

It was a wonderful event. Lots of talented bands. Even the two middle school bands were lights out. I enjoyed talking with the two Notre Dame boosters that were next to me and the two Glendora boosters that talked with me as well.

Thanks to Luis, I was introduced to WOP's dmcoach, Gonzofoto, and dr. Nice to meet all of you in person.

Couple of things seemed out of the ordinary right away. Very peculiar for this NorCal guy to see drum majors come to the competition area before the review began, stepping off their steps from the salute line. Isn't this line in the same spot for every review?

The Loara guard doing their routine in front of the judges' stand over and over and over, trying to get it just right. My question is, the judges can see them, probably spot some errors, and be ready to pounce on them when they do it for real? Granted, Loara was the host and therefore not competing, but, they will be in competition for the next event, perhaps with the same auxiliary judges?

The Loara band, which was very good by the way, warming up right at the competition line. Heck, they even did a run through 10 minutes before the start of the review. It caught me off guard, as I thought initially that they were doing the real thing and that I had missed my chance to video them. Then abruptly they stopped playing and all of them walked back to the beginning of the competition area. Peculiar indeed. (for me anyways)

Now I could go on and on about all of the great bands that performed. I did have my favorites. Without naming all of them or the obvious ones, I will say that I enjoyed Mayfair, especially their guard, since it was as close to a NCBA guard that I saw that day.

Many SoCal guards are talented in the manner that they "choose" to perform. And their talent is appreciated. However, I have come to enjoy the style, flair, personality of the NCBA guards, particularly Golden Valley's. GV's guard instructor has written a routine that I think is brilliant. She includes lots of modern dance that has a tight choreography between the shields, rifles, and flags. Those three elements seem to feed off of each other throughout the routine. The rifle-shield exchange in front of the judges’ stand and the solo rifle toss, also in front of the judges, are examples of this.

I believe Southern California has many more “top level” or “sweepstakes” bands than NorCal. However, after watching in person, Golden Valley can definitely hang with the top level SoCal bands. I know that I will probably be accused of being biased, perhaps I am a bit, but I believe GV is right there with the best that SoCal has to offer.

It will be interesting to see if Ravenswood ends up on the SoCal march list in the near future. Don’t know how many times Joyce’s 71st was played at Loara? I prefer Ravenswood, the Cossack and Unter der Admiral’s Flagge over any march that was played at Loara. But, I’m sure none of these are on “the list”. I’d love to see some SoCal bands play those three marches.

It was a fabulous, short trip. I’d like to see more NorCal bands get invited to participate in SoCal events in the future. And vice versa. I know Arcadia is going to Napa in a few weeks. I like the idea of these two styles performing for each other. Makes one long for the Long Beach and Santa Ana events of the past.

Many SoCal guards are talented in the manner that they "choose" to perform. And their talent is appreciated. However, I have come to enjoy the style, flair, personality of the NCBA guards, particularly Golden Valley's. GV's guard instructor has written a routine that I think is brilliant. She includes lots of modern dance that has a tight choreography between the shields, rifles, and flags. Those three elements seem to feed off of each other throughout the routine. The rifle-shield exchange in front of the judges’ stand and the solo rifle toss, also in front of the judges, are examples of this.

I don't know her personally, but from what I see/hear, Rachel is awesome. Each year, I am amazed by GV's guard. I absolutely love the rifle/letter exchange. I have former students in GV's guard and they speak fondly of Rachel. It seems that she genuinely cares about those girls/guys in guard.

I was looking forward to seeing the Cardinal Regime. I, unlike many on this board am not a coach or really that in tune with all the fine points of judging. Just a parent at RK. The RK kids had seen a facebook page from some of the GV kids saying that they were coming for them and to watch out King. I thought this was hillarious and made me eager to see for myself.

From a casual observer point of view, I don't think it would be easy to compare the two styles. The GV show kind of reminded me of a mini field show on the street. I found it very entertaining. Great job.

I particularly want to make mention of the drum major; well done. I definately thought it was one of the better routines that I saw.

Thank you and your group for coming. It made the event more interesting.

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